Wellness Core Senior review

Our banding lands this one in Excellent, one rung clear of the Good band that the typical adult dry food occupies. What lifts it is unglamorous and solid. Two named species head the ingredients list, protein converts to 36.3% of dry matter, and the estimated carbohydrate load comes in at 37.4% of dry matter where the typical adult dry food runs at 46.2%. For a bowl meant to keep an older dog ticking over, unglamorous and solid is rather the point.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey 28% (Fresh Turkey 16%, Dehydrated Turkey 12%), Chicken 24% (Dehydrated Chicken 16%, Chicken Gravy 5%, Chicken Fat 3%), Peas 16%, Dried Potatoes, Beet Pulp 4%, Potato Protein, Linseed 3%, Lignocellulose, Salmon Oil 1%, Carrots, Apples, Yeast Extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides) 0.5%, Dried Chicory Root (source of Fructo-oligo-saccharides and Inulin) 0.5%, D-Glucosamine Hydrochloride 200 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 200 mg/kg, Broccoli, Spinach, Tomatoes, Blueberries, Cranberries 0.01%, Dried Peppermint, Yucca Schidigera, Mixed Herbs (Dried Rosemary, Dried Turmeric, Dried Citrus, Dried Eugenia).

Turkey heads the list at 28%, printed as 16% fresh and 12% dehydrated. Printing the split is the useful part of the declaration. Water makes up most of fresh meat and the oven removes it, which is why the dehydrated share does the heavier lifting once the kibble is baked. Chicken follows at 24%, largely in dried form again, which means the named animal content here is substantial rather than decorative.

The starch is peas at 16% with dried potatoes, and potato protein sits just behind them. Potato protein is a plant protein, and for a dog a plant protein does not match meat. Read the 33% protein figure knowing that a slice of it comes from that entry and not from the birds.

The joint pair arrives with numbers attached: glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate at 200 mg/kg each. That sort of declaration lets an owner judge a claim without taking it on trust. Beet pulp at 4% is the fermentable fibre. Backing it up are two prebiotics: yeast extract and dried chicory root at 0.5% apiece.

The senior thinking carries on into the additive panel. Taurine arrives at 1500 mg and L-carnitine at 100 mg, both familiar on labels written for ageing hearts and thickening middles, with vitamin E at 120 mg on antioxidant duty. The omega side is linseed at 3% and salmon oil at 1%, one from a seed and one from a fish.

Lignocellulose deserves a plain word. It is a purified plant fibre made from agricultural and mill residues, not something pressed out of whole vegetables. It earns its keep by adding bulk without adding calories, which suits an older dog on shorter walks. It is doing a real job in here, just not the job the carrots and apples further down are doing.

Broccoli, spinach and tomatoes tail the list, with the berries behind them, and all of it is garnish. Cranberries are printed at 0.01% and the rest of that parade sits alongside them, so the food stands on its meat rather than on its blueberries. One honest note on the mineral panel. The trace elements come as sulphates, not chelates, which a dog absorbs slightly less readily, though every one of them is dosed in print.

Wellness Core Senior is listed in two bag sizes, the larger of them 10kg.

As a portion guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at about 247 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label's own table asks 150 grams for a 10kg dog and 250 grams for a 20kg one. Your dog's waistline decides where between those they belong.